Tommy Hilfiger Switches to ‘See Now, Buy Now’ Runway Schedule

Tommy Hilfiger announced that the brand will be switching to a more consumer-facing schedule for runway shows. This is the latest in a series of similar schedule changes, with Tom Ford and Burberry both recently announcing shifts in show schedules to make their collections available immediately following the runway presentations.

The CFDA first introduced the idea to change up the runway schedule in December 2015, saying that it would enlist the help of the Boston Consulting Group to study the operation of fashion shows and see if it would be advantageous to switch to a more consumer-focused calendar.

Beginning in September 2016, Tommy Hilfiger will debut its Fall 2016 collections with a full fashion show. That collection will then be immediately available to purchase across all sales channels.

The September show will feature the debut of Gigi Hadid’s capsule collection with Tommy Hilfiger, along with a selection of curated looks from Tommy Hilfiger collections. The brand will promote this show through a partnership with a global multi-media broadcast network to launch an integrated advertising campaign.

Hilfiger said, “I founded my brand to be accessible and inclusive, and I’ve always considered the consumer to be the most important aspect of our business.” He continued, “We’ve been building towards this for a long time, and the natural progression of this approach to democratizing the runway is to make the full excitement and energy of NYFW directly accessible to our consumers in a globally impactful way.”

After the debut of Hadid’s capsule collection in September, the next show will be the Spring 2017 women’s collection debuting in February 2017. To accommodate the calendars of wholesale buyers and long-lead media, in September 2016, Tommy Hilfiger will stage private advance showings of the upcoming Spring 2017 collections.

Daniel Grieder, chief executive officer for Tommy Hilfiger, said, “In line with our vision to become more consumer-centric, it’s important that we channel the incredible visibility and engagement that our shows generate into the moment when the product launches. This is the next step in our journey to shorten the development cycle and balance our approach to meet the diverse needs of consumers, buyers and media.”